Claudio Hummes

Claudio Hummes (8 August 1934-) was a Brazilian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Fortaleza from 1996 to 1998 and of Sao Paulo from 1998 to 2006. He was a notable liberal cardinal and an outspoken proponent of social justice.

Biography
Auri Alfonso Hummes was born in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on 8 August 1934 to parents of German descent, and he assumed the name "Claudio" upon becoming a Franciscan. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood on 3 August 1958, and he taught philosophy at a seminary in Garibaldi from 1963 to 1968. In 1975, he became Cardinal-Bishop of Santo Andre, and, during the Brazilian military government, he allowed for anti-government labor unions to meet in his parish; he became close friends with the socialist union leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He became Archbishop of Fortaleza in 1996 and was transferred to Sao Paulo in 1998, and he was mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II in 2005; at the 2013 papal conclave, he helped to elect his friend Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis, reminding him not to forget about the poor. Hummes advocated for action against climate change, criticized the spread of global capitalism, condemned attacks on homeless indigenous people, and questioned clerical celibacy.